he was one
of nature's noblemen. He was an Illinois farmer, who had enlisted as a
private, and had in time become colonel of his regiment, and had been
placed in command of this brigade. Every evening he would take an axe
and cut up fire-wood enough for headquarters, and he was not above
cleaning off his horse if his servant was sick, or did not do it to
suit, and frequently I have seen him greasing his own boots.

Two days out, and we were in the pine woods of Alabama, with no
habitation within ten miles. After a day's march we went into camp in
the woods, and it was the afternoon before Christmas. The young pines,
growing among the larger ones, were just such little trees as were used
at home for Christmas trees, and within an hour after getting the camp
made, every man thought of Christmas at home. The boys went off into
the woods and got holly, and mistletoe, and every pup tent of the whole
brigade was decorated, and they hung nose bags, grain sacks, army socks
and pants on the trees. Around the fires stakes had been driven to hang
clothes on to dry, and as night came and the pitch pine fires blazed
up to the tops of the great pines, it actually looked like Christmas,
though there was not a Christmas present anywhere. After supper the
brigade band began to play patriotic airs, with occasionally an old
fashioned tune, like "Old Hundred," the woods rung with music from the
boys who could sing, and everybody was as happy as I ever saw a crowd
of people, and when it came time to retire the band played "Home, Sweet
Home," and three thousand rough soldiers went to bed with tears in their
eyes, and every man dreamed of the dear ones at home, and many prayed
that the home ones might be happy, and in the morning they all got up,
stripped the empty Christmas stockings off the evergreen trees, put
them on, and went on down the red road, and at noon the army entered
Montgomery, Alabama, the first capital of the confederate states, took
possession of the capital building in which were millions of dollars of
confederate money and bonds. Every soldier filled his pockets and saddle
bags with bonds and bills of large denominations. It was a poor soldier
that could not count up his half a million dollars, but with all the
money no man could buy a Christmas dinner. A dollar in greenbacks would
buy more than all of the wagon loads of confederate currency captured
that day. And yet the people of Montgomery looked upon the arrival of
th